Morning Brief: Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Trudeau and Wall face off on Twitter, Kaine and Pence go head to head on the debate stage

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau greet Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall as he arrives at the First Ministers meeting at the Museum of Nature Monday, November 23, 2015 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Today’s Morning Brief is brought to you by Resolute Forest Products. Sustainability is one of Resolute’s shared corporate values and an integral part of how we do business every day. We believe that delivering on our sustainability commitments makes us more competitive and generates value for shareholders over the long term.

Better late than never? We’re a day late marking World Animal Day, which aims to raise the status of animals in order to improve welfare standards around the world. But it’s a timely lapse as it tees up a vote coming today in the House concerning the finned, feathered, furry and four-legged among us.

It may be 2016, but when it comes to Canada’s animal cruelty laws, it might as well be 1892. That’s the last time animal cruelty laws in this country saw any substantive change. Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith is hoping to start the process of bringing those laws into the 21st century today. In the face of fierce opposition from groups representing farmers, hunters and anglers, Erskine-Smith’s private member’s bill, C-246, goes to a vote this evening to see if it will claw its way to a Commons committee for a closer look. Our Holly Lake looks at Parliament’s fourth shot at updating the more than century old laws.

Still with clawing, Senator Mike Duffy is now having some of his wages clawed back to repay the Senate $16,995 for some expense claims that came to light during his recent trial for fraud and bribery, including for a trainer that he deemed was part of research into seniors’ fitness, where he was the guinea pig. Since August the senator has been docked 20 per cent of the net amount of his monthly pay package. Our Leslie MacKinnon has the details on the trimming.

There’s a good chance there could be more sparring to come — on Twitter and beyond — with Trudeau signalling he may override the provinces’ wishes on health care and act unilaterally as he’s done with carbon. CBC’s Chris Hall has that piece.

While the government’s legislation to create a committee of parliamentarians tasked with reviewing national security activities is a “good first step,” it should expand the idea to include a panel of national security experts if it wants to get the big picture, the country’s privacy commissioner said Tuesday. More from our Amanda Connolly.

An NDP motion that wanted to see a House of Commons committee created to examine Canadian arms exports – including a controversial $15-billion deal with Saudi Arabia – has been shot down by the Liberals. More from the Globe’s Steven Chase.

“The Canadian military is hoping to ask the government early next year for approval to spend up to $500 million to modernize its CF-18 fighter jets. The upgrade would keep the planes flying until 2025, giving the government some breathing room to organize the purchase of replacements and make sure they are delivered before the older jets are taken out of service.” The Citizen’s David Pugliese has that story.

Meanwhile, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship John McCallum announced in the House yesterday that the government is sending a team of officials to Iraq on a fact-finding mission to consider the best ways to help Yazidi refugees fleeing genocide. Down the hall, he was grilled by senators and asked the Senate to come to the aid of Canadians who are being stripped of their citizenship without a hearing. In the meantime, he said he’ll consider imposing a moratorium on the practice. CP’s Joan Bryden has that story.

Still with the Senate, as it begins looking at how to modernize itself through new proposed rule changes, a larger debate is brewing behind the scenes over the value of partisanship and how independents eventually will organize themselves as they grow in numbers. The Senate modernization committee’s first set of recommendations was tabled Tuesday and is to be debated Thursday. While some senators are keeping their own counsel on the specifics until Thursday, others are already looking to the future with bigger questions. Our Kyle Duggan has the details.

Haters gonna hate and if they want to mock Mad Max, well so be it. Conservative Leadership candidate Maxime Bernier is sporting his armour and says “if people laugh (at the photo) even better, but the message is getting through.”

HERE AND THERE

Finance Minister Bill Morneau attends a meeting of the Finance Minister of the Americas in Washington. He’ll be a panellist as part of the seminar on “Leveraging Private Finance for Bankable Infrastructure.”

Statistics Canada releases the Canadian international merchandise trade figures for August.

The NDP hold their weekly caucus meeting at 9:15 a.m. the Conservative caucus meets at 9:30 a.m. and the Liberal caucus gathers at 10 a.m.

Perrin Beatty, CEO Canadian Chamber of Commerce, appears at the Rideau Club.

Irwin Cotler holds a press conference to discuss the Human Rights Council candidates in advance of elections to be held by the UN General Assembly. A report on human rights violator countries will also released.

Dr. Zeda Rosenberg, International Partnership for Microbicides, discusses the next steps in the development of the monthly vaginal ring for HIV prevention.

Teachers, educators and professors hold a rally on World Teachers’ Day in support of the 28,000 suspended and fired Turkish teachers since the failed coup this summer.

Natural Resources Minister James Carr gives the keynote address at the Canadian Communities and Energy Decision-Making Conference.

Meanwhile, just who is Bill Clinton stumping for? He was in backtracking mode yesterday after criticizing Obamacare Monday, calling President Barack Obama’s signature policy reform “the craziest thing in the world.”

And then there’s Eric Trump, who has cleared up why his father is reluctant to release his tax returns: Because the media would obsess over them. Uh, yeah. That’s the point, no? “They would go through every single page for the last 400 years and they would make issue of everything,” he said. “You almost couldn’t at this point.” Clearly someone has a strong grasp of how these things are supposed to work when you’re running for public office. Sigh.

Discretion is still the better part of valour, in politics and everywhere else. Of all the things Prime Minister Trudeau promised during the election campaign, not one has brought him more grief than electoral reform. But what if he just walked away from the idea … at least until after the next election?

We welcome constitutional scholar Nathalie Chalifour back to the page with another sweeping piece on the legal aspects of climate change. Tonight, she’s got bad news for Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall and other provincial politicians looking to kill Trudeau’s carbon price plan before it gets off the ground: Ottawa has the legal authority to push the plan through — and could even impose carbon caps on the provinces, if it wanted to.

Prizes don’t get much sweeter than this: Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor will take home a $1 million prize as the winner of the first Berggruen Philosophy Prize, which is to be awarded annually for “a thinker whose ideas are of broad significance for shaping human self-understanding and the advancement of humanity.” More from the New York Times.

This morning at the Ottawa Marriott Hotel, you can join iPoliticsLive at 7:30 AM for a thought-provoking discussion on education as an economic contributor. Denise Amyot, president and CEO of Colleges and Institutes Canada, will deliver the opening remarks, detailing the findings of a new report on the value that colleges provide to the Canadian economy. That will be followed by an expert panel discussion moderated by Catherine Clark. Find out more here.